Invader Zim: The Days of Our Queen
by MistressofthePen1987
Summary: When Zim goes missing, Dib decides to investigate and comes across a startling discovery; Zim is now a female. Now the two have to pair up to figure out a way to change him back, but it's not as simple as they think. More summary inside...
1. Chapter 1

Well allrighty then! Here's a change of pace. Invader Zim…wow…didn't think I had it in me. This story was another in the stream of stories I wanted to write but was too damned lazy to get off my ass long enough to write category. I love Invader Zim (And JTHM but I feel like I haven't gotten into the character of Johnny to do him justice in a fanfic) and like all the others wanted to do a fic dedicated to the hate-hate relationship between Zim and Dib and all the gooey mess that one can come up with between them. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

**Rating: M**

**Genre: Romance, Humor, Mystery**

**Pairings: Zim and Dib**

**Summary: ****When Zim goes missing, Dib decides to investigate and comes across a startling discovery; Zim is now a female. The two pair up to figure out a way to change him back, but things get complicated when feelings change and attraction blossoms. Can they sort out their hearts and fix this problem? Can this problem be fixed in the first place? Why are the Tallets so concerned?**

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**Chapter One: Where's Zim?**

_Something isn't right; he hasn't been here for two whole weeks. Why? Why I ask you? I know he's usually weird like that, but still two weeks is a hell of a long time to be "sick." Damn it all to hell…He must be plotting something, something evil! I can see him now, hunched over a table in his lab making twisted plan to take over the world by turning everyone into mutant hamster dragons and pitting us against one another for a single sandwich until there are none left. Gasp! That sick, sick alien. I HAVE TO STOP HIM!_

"Dib! Sit your waste hole back down!" Ms. Bitter's sharp command brought Dib back to reality and found him standing like the usual half-crazed moron on the top of his desk, halfway through jumping off and out the door.

The 17-year-old boy only stared, "But Ms. Bitter's-,"

A demonic growl successfully rewound the boy's action to where he was sitting once again in his seat.

"I sense and relish the lack of weirdness that spews from the missing green child's mouth in his absence and likewise understand against my will your sick obsession with him, but I'm in the middle of cramming crap into your useless minds and despise the idea that a child such as you are trying to interrupt that. Now, stay or die!" she spat violently before returning to her teaching lesson.

Someone launched a well-practiced spitball in the direction of Dib's head; its impact was accompanied with various snickers.

Dib wiped it away, 'and they find Columbine a tragedy,' he muttered in his mind.

Zim hadn't been to school for the past two weeks and it bothered Dib. Not that it was a rare occurrence. Zim took many days off to do various things; all pertaining to the enslavement of mankind, but in his stupidity, he would usually get impatient that start to give himself away, allowing Dib time to foil his plans. Not only that, the most he missed consecutively was usually 3 days; that was quite a jump in Dib's eyes. Who knew the horrors that evil extra-terrestrial creature was concocting at this moment!

Dib thought back to the last time he saw Zim, the alien was…well…sitting there actually, in the same desk he'd occupied for the last 7 years (Why hadn't they switched classes? Cheap bastards for school administration officials!). He looked a little paler than usual, but still was his usual loud, obnoxious self. They parted the day same as always full of hatred and disgust with one another, nothing out of the ordinary.

The teen watched as a spider continued to make a web on the space between the seat and table of Zim's desk, 'What could he be up to?'

A sickening sound of books slamming on his desk made him jump; he turned to see a stack of books and papers in front of him.

Ms. Bitter's ragged face slithered over the books and stopped inches from his, "Dib! Since my lesson apparently bores your stupid mind, why don't you stop wasting my air and space and make yourself useful by taking these lessons to Zim."

Dib scowled at the laughter and jeers behind him and grabbed the heavy stack, it teetered and threatened to fall a few times, but he kept it balanced enough to exit the room.

Once he was down the hall of the high school, he dumped the books in the A.V. room (burying some unsuspecting nerds) and ran out the doors, "What diabolical plan are you commencing now, Zim?" he asked aloud.

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**So here it is, I already have the entire story planned out, I just need to find the time to write it in detail. ^-^; Anywhoo things are going to get crazy in the next chapter! Stay tuned!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two, !

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**Chapter 2: An Ooey Gooey Afternoon**

Nothing could prepare him for what he was seeing. Zim's entire home was submerged in a disgusting layer of green goo, like a really fucked up gelatin mold! It was thick and seemed to hold chunks of…something in it. Dib was too terrified to ponder as to what. If the jello house wasn't weird enough, the lawn was wily, unkempt and dry, dead leaves blanketed the walkway and an eerie silence filled the air.

"What happened?" Dib asked. He'd grown accustomed to talking to himself frequently; the habits of a social outcast are indeed hard to break.

Though Zim hated this planet with a passion, he was hardly the type of person to allow his proud "Irken Base" to fall into such a piteous state. 'Perhaps his race came for him,' one side of his mind tried to reason. Dib shook his head, 'If that was the case, why didn't they take over while they were here? Besides,' he thought with self-satisfaction, 'His race doesn't seem to like his company.' Dib concluded that if he was even here, Zim must be in an invalid state.

The tall, raven haired boy made his way in hap-hazardly, halfway he stopped and pounced back to the other side, his eyes scanned the lawn, 'Where are the gnome-guards?' he wondered. The stillness of the Irken's lawn was truly unsettling. Being doubly careful he tossed a rock in to see if there was some kind of delay, there wasn't.

He knocked on the door, instantly it gave way and he found that more to the story lay inside. The living room, along with the kitchen and hallway were covered in the same green goo that coated the outside. He walked cautiously, but still managed to slip and fall in a big puddle of the stuff.

A chill of disgust ran down his back, the goo was cold, sticky and smelled like sweat. He took off his ruined jacket and discarded it (there was no way in hell he was going to touch this shit unnecessarily).

Dib rose and found a bit of evidence on the couch; it was covered in goo, but not enough to short circuit. A small, purple screen with the Irken insignia on the corner "Zim's Diary of Perpetual Greatness: Keep out Gir!" was written on the back on paper tape.

Dib cleaned off the goo as best as he could and examined it, "This has got to hold all kinds of secrets!" he said with great enthusiasm. He turned it a few more times before finding the "on" button.

The T.V. sputtered and cackled to life, "Password Required," a female voice sounded, Dib thought for a moment, 'What would that idiot put as a password? Got it,' "I AM THE ALL POWERFUL ZIM!" he yelled, trying to sound as much like Zim as possible, the computer accepted the password and unlocked, "Idiot," he said again and scanned through the entries to the most recent.

June 29, 2019 7:06 p.m.

He pressed enter and watched in horror at the sight before him:

Zim stood, but barely. His small form covered in the goo that now surrounded Dib, his eyes were sunken in and it was all too apparent he was in a relatively large amount of pain. Dib had to cock his head as the camera was at a funky angle, 'Probably the work of Gir,' he said mentally, squinting in an attempt to focus the picture.

Zim winced clutching at his stomach, "To…think….that I've succumbed…" deep shallow breaths broke his sentence, "to a Tallest-forsaken planet such as this…" Zim struggled to remain upright, but that paired with breathing seemed to be too hard of a task. Eventually Zim gave in to his fatigue and fell to the floor.

Dib looked around; it was the very same room, two weeks prior. But what happened? Where was Zim?

"Test after…after test…and I cannot decipher what it wrong with me…ARGH!" he arched his back and pursed his green eyelids shut as a wave of pain overtook him. Dib hated Zim, but it kind of bothered him to see his rival in such a state. The Irken remained that way for a moment before his body relaxed, when he spoke again, his voice sounded far off.

"My body so weak, I cannot do anything…I…I cannot live like this…" Gir entered the picture, his metal feet tit-tattering towards his master. The little robot sat down and looked at his master, "You need ice-cream!" he squealed, and proceeded to dump scoops of chocolate ice cream on Zim's head. The Irken did not move at this, he simply stared at the ceiling. "What a failure…my invasion, un-invaded, my mission, incomplete…my nemesis…lives…" he rasped. A light of hope sparked when Dib saw the Irken try to rise to his feet.

It would be short lived, "I will not live on my knees…if I am to die…I will die on my f-feet."

"Zim!" Dib yelled into the screen, as though it would change the situation. Zim tried to stay up, but another wave of pain brought him to his knees, and then to his side again, behind him Gir danced wildly, "To think that in my moment of demise, I wish nothing more but to see that Dib-shit's face right now…"

"NO!" Dib yelled into the screen, "Damn you Zim, you can't die!" Zim's face wouldn't listen and just continued to stare, his breathing slowed to a dangerously slow pace. Gir stared, helpless and utterly incapable of doing anything, "Master?" somehow he understood the situation, though it was anyone's guess as to whether or not he understood the severity.

Zim called the mechanical warrior to his side, "Gir," his voice lightly grazed the microphone. Dib shook the screen, "NO! ZIM! ZIM! NO!" he yelled. The robot snapped to attention, the blue lights in his body turned red, "Yes master!" he answered.

"NOOOOOO!" He screamed

His eyes started to close, "Self-descruct,"

"ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

Dib stared helpless for 3 seconds as fire engulfed the diary before a secondary blast knocked it out, he beat the diary against the floor, not caring that he was destroying precious evidence of alien life on earth, "No! You fool! How could you just roll over and die like that!" he screamed.

Tears poured down Dibs pale cheeks, "IT'S NOT FAIR! YOU WERE MINE! MINE TO DESTROY!" he sat there for a long time, allowing the rivers of torment to run their course. Zim was his to destroy.

A thought came to his head, 'Wait…a minute…why…why am I crying…I should be happy, shouldn't I? The world is now safe from Zim…" Dib needed to look at the bright side of things. Zim was, after all, a risk to the safety of this planet, he as a loose canon with advanced weaponry at his disposal, his death was nothing but a relief!

But try as he may Dib found himself feeling hollow. He knew exactly what Zim was to him, they weren't close friends but he could not deny that sense of completion Zim gave him, Zim knew the loneliness that Dib endured, Zim knew what it felt like to be misunderstood by the world around him. They fought constantly, but they were also the only person either looked for in times of trouble. Two awkward pieces that fit nowhere else but with each other. And now that piece was gone.

"Damn it..." he whispered.

"Whatcha doin'?" a familiar squeaky voice broke through his anguish with the same gentility a train breaks through a china shop, it took a minute for Dib to register this, after a moment his head shot up and in the direction of the inquirer. Gir stood before him, completely unscathed, and clad in the doggy uniform with the hood down. He was currently partaking in a burrito and apparently relishing in its flavor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Oh…My…God…**

Dib stared like moron before his mind found him again, he grabbed the android and turned it every which way. Gir squealed in delight, as though Dib were tickling him. "Gir, you're alive!" he exclaimed, the robot nodded, "And now Imma reaaaaaal booooyyyyyy!" he babbled, spitting chunks of half eaten burrito onto Dib's face.

"This makes no sense, you exploded!" he said, as though Gir didn't know that. The android flung his arms up, "LIKE THEES!" His little body combusted into a fiery pillar of metal and heat, shaking the walls and covering everything in burnt burrito meat.

Dib brought his arms up to shield the blast, the force knocked him off of his feet, but he was surprised to find it didn't rip him apart. When it subsided, he looked up and sure enough Gir was still there, and still unscathed.

"I does that awwllll the time! It's feisty!" he screamed.

Dib couldn't believe it, but should have known it made more sense. The house was still intact and hardly any of it (even with the second blast) was burned. That aside Gir was too erratic to trust with such power, he hated to admit it, but Zim was smarter than to be so reckless. Sometimes. 'Wait a minute, ZIM!'

"Gir!" he snapped, trying to keep the robot's constantly waning attention, Gir stopped mid-tango and looked at the boy who called his name. Dib's hands shook with anticipation, "W-where's Zim?" he asked waiting for and dreading the answer.

The little robot stared blankly for a moment.

Then another…

Then another…

Finally after 10 minutes he spoke, "….what?"

Dib fell over, "Zim! Zim you simpleton! Where is Zim!"

"Ohhhhh….Master's sleeping!" he answered, still nibbling on the burrito.

Dib's heart stopped, 'Zim's sleeping…to Gir that is…does that mean that he's really…'

"LES WAKE 'IM!" the android sang and started down the hall.

Dib did not immediately follow him, he was too busy having an aneurysm.

* * *

'Dear God, this robot's gotten us lost,' Dib thought as they passed a room similar to the one they'd passed three times prior, what in the world possessed him to think that Gir knew anything, let alone if Zim was alive and where his body was.

The robot had said nothing the entire time they were walking, which had accumulated to 2 hours. He led Dib down the hall and into the lab, which was far more expansive and intricate than Dib had originally thought. As time passed, things began to blur and now everything looked the same, hell for all Dib knew Gir was just leading him in circles.

"Uh…Gir?" he asked. The robot kept walking, but turned his little head 180 degrees to look at Dib, "Yeeeees?"

"Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Mmmmmm….not really!" he screamed and ran off.

Dib took off after Gir, but the little robot was too fast for him and after only a few minutes, Dib was lost and without a guide. The teen looked around to anything to direct him

_mmmmmmmm…_

Dib froze as a soft moan graced his left ear, so light was the sound he hardly thought he heard it. Not sure it was anything to go on, Dib waited for the sound and sure enough

_Uuuhhhhnnnnnnn….._

His head shot to the left, where a corridor led into the darkness. Could it be Zim? He decided not to debate on it and instead took off down the hallway to the door at the very end. As Dib ventured into the darkness, he couldn't help but notice a soft green light flashing outwards from the crack at the bottom of the door. Something also came to his attention, the moaning…the moaning, and this Dib blushed at, seemed light, feminine.

'Does that mean Zim's in there…with a girl?'

He pressed his ear to the door, sure enough someone was moaning inside. Dib turned a ruby red, 'Was Zim…doing _that_?' he wondered, it wasn't wholly far fetched, while Dib remained the wonderful social outcast, Zim's tall, slender physique, exotic green skin, and piercing blue eyes placed him at the center of most teenage girl's desire. Zim had never shown much interest in girls, but that was all superficial, the question was who? Who swayed Zim's heart so much that he would procreate?

'What business is it of yours?' he asked himself, truth be told, he spoke to himself so frequently that he may as well have made another personality. Dib was truly surprised at how enamored with the concept he was, 'It's no concern of mine! I'm…just curious, that's all,' he tried to tack it up to morbid curiosity, which seemed to satiate his other mind.

He turned and faced the door, what was behind it? Zim in pain? Zim dead? Or would Zim just be fucking the daylights out some chick? He hesitated a moment, contemplating his reaction to all avenues before finally saying fuck it and opening the door.

When the sight before him hit his retinas and registered in his brain, his jaw justly hit the floor.

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I was going to let you all know…but I'm in a sadistic mood and have decided to make you wait ^-^ What did Dib see that freaked him out? Tune in next week my friends, tune In next week.


	4. Chapter 4

Yay!

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**Chapter 4: Get Out!**

Many things were confirmed at that point:

1.) Zim was alive

2.)He was not fucking a girl

3.) He looked perfectly all right, save one teeny alteration.

The Irken was encased in a large sphere of the green goo, it hung in the middle of the room attached to the walls and ceiling, supported by thick strands of hardened mucous, light green streaks covered the sphere like veins, pulsating at random intervals with an unnatural life. Zim resided directly in the middle of this biological concoction, his small form naked and in the fetal position; his back was to Dib who had unconsciously walked over to where he was now inches away from the cocoon.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, what happened? Why was Zim like this? He could see the aliens' back contracting, indicating that he was indeed breathing, Zim seemed to stir every so often, but never fully awoken.

Gir appeared by his side, "Master's been like this for twooooo weeks!" he said, knowing in his little mind that Dib wanted to know something. Dib walked directly under the goo in an attempt to get a better look at Zim, as he did he noted even more differences on the alien's person.

The first thing was that Zim had more antennas than before, they were thicker, and he didn't know if it was the distortion of the cocoon, but they seemed to curl more than they used to. Another difference was the parts of his body that he could see were covered in black markings, tribal-esque like a decorative series of tattoos; they looked pretty cool in Dib's eyes.

Curiosity got the best of him and soon he found the courage to touch it. Slowly, his hand made it's way to the surface, it looked hardened, but looks in this case were horribly deceiving. The skin instantly gave way to the intruder, dousing the poor teen in goo, Zim's body was disturbed and fell with the rush of liquid. Blindly, Dib reached out to catch the Irken, the weight over-balanced the already shaky stability of his legs and pushed him down, but he was successful in his intentions and the two continued to be bathed in the goo.

When the cocoon was empty, he opened his eyes and breathed, coughing up some of the goo that was forced down his throat. He blinked the unconscious alien into view (his glasses were lost in the down pour), but could only make out a fuzzy outline, still his eyes were not the sense he was relying on, it was his hand.

Dib couldn't wouldn't believe that his hand was pinned underneath the slippery Irken, he couldn't wouldn't believe that it was where it was, and he couldn't wouldn't believe that he was inadvertently cupping a soft and supply breast.

"What in the-!" Dib's attempt to gather his thoughts were cut short when Zim roused from his slumber, his ruby eyes shot in Dib's direction and instantly glared at him, "RAAAHHH! What are YOU doing in the lab of Zim!" His smaller form pushed against Dib and the alien slipped out of his grip, "Out!"

Dib tried to get up, but the floor proved to slippery and he fell on his ass, "Wait Zim, you need to-,"

"I don't need to do anything. COMPUTER!"

The next thing Dib saw was a tube emerged from the ceiling and Zim's evil glare before the tube sucked his lanky form up and shot him out 20 feet over the back fence and into a bush.

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Ok…WHAT DO YOU THINK? TELL ME!


	5. Chapter 5

Whoo! Another chapter! A few things are cleared up in this chapter and it gets under way! To those of you who have reviewed so far, thanks they made me laugh ^-^

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**Chapter 4:**

Dib's intellectual brain, his genius mind filled with all sorts of knowledge of various sciences and the supernatural were thoroughly boggled. The boy was in such a state of shock, he scarcely remembered pulling himself out of the bush and walking home, the shower or how he came to be on his couch in front of "Mysterious Mysteries," the only thought that could have been processed at that moment in time was the simple and obvious.

"Zim…is a girl…"

Gaz came home and grabbed a soda, bread and sandwich meat. She stared at Dib's unmoving form, then proceeded to use his large, stiff head as a table to make her sandwich; purposely spilling mayo on him.

Still, Dib stayed.

She sighed, "You're such a weirdo, but the last thing I need is Dad bugging me. So," she sat down next to him and took a bite of her sandwich, "What's wrong?"

Dib turned to her, "Well-,"

"Good you're not dead," she cut him off and left the living room.

Dib watched her, then blinked everything else into existence, he looked at the clock, 'I've been sitting here for 7 hours?' he asked incredulously. The teen's body woke up too and told him he needed things such as food and a bathroom. Dib rose and started the process of acquiescing to the needs of his body when the doorbell rang.

"I'm not getting it!" Gaz's shouted from her room. Dib rolled his eyes and backtracked through the living room to the door. Grabbing the knob, he turned it and opened it.

"Yes-," Dib immediately shut up when he saw who it was.

Zim stood in the doorway, clad in his Irken uniform that had, in the change become far too small for him. The pink striped top clung to his chest; of which large green breasts drooped out the bottom of. If that wasn't bad enough, the black tights were one size fits all but with more supple hips and a rounder butt; they went from simple to slutty in 0 seconds flat.

Dib had to stifle a nosebleed as the full image of Zim's voluptuous body hit him full force.

"Dib-stink!" Zim yelled when the boy stared too long, Dib snapped out of it, "So I wasn't hallucinating, you're a girl!" he blurted out.

"I'm NOT a girl!" he spat.

"But look at you-,"

"I'M NOT A GIRL!" the Irken's higher voice pitch was even louder than usual. Gaz, interrupted from her yoga poked her head out of her room and glared at the visitor, "Who the hell is making all that noise?" she spat, throwing all pleasantries aside.

Dib pushed Zim out of the doorway, "No one! No one Gaz, um….I'm going to go-,"

"Whatever, just take the screeching monkey with you," she said, cutting her brother off. She slammed the door.

Dib walked outside and closed the door behind him. Zim, pushed so hard he fell on his ass was getting up, "How dare you push me with your…icky paws!" he yelled indignantly.

"So what happened?" Dib decided to ignore the Irken's verbal assault (after all, he got to push him).

Zim rose to his feet. For a few minutes he remained silent, struggling to make a sentence. It was Gir, who had been enamored with a light bug behind Zim who finally spoke for his master. His little doggy head popped out from behind Zim's long legs, "Mastuh needs your help, right master?" he grinned upwards at Zim, who was now glaring at the big mouthed robot.

Dib's ego was immediately inflated, "You? You Zim, the infamous and all knowing misanthrope need my help?" he would have started laughing, but Zim was already starting to turn to walk away.

"Wait Zim, wait." He jogged down the driveway to where Zim was. As much as he loved laughing in Zim's face and as much as he relished in the fact that Zim needed him. Zim's pride was horribly strong and Dib, in all honesty was just as curious to know what had happened to Zim's body structure.

Zim turned back to Dib, "Like my impertinent servant blabbed…I….require your assistance…" he seemed to literally choke that sentence out.

"O.k. but I have some questions first," he asked, the scientist in him was raging for answers. A cold wind blew through the front yard, breaking their conversation, "Might we venture somewhere a little less….chilly?" Zim asked. Unbeknownst to the Irken, the cold had cause a wonderful reaction underneath his top in the form of two hardened dots on each of his immensely large breasts. Dib hadn't meant to stare, but being a loner it was the first time someone so…sexy stood so close to him.

"Dib-stink, your camo-gauge is on the fritz?" Zim asked, pointing to Dib's face.

He turned to hide a roaring shade of red that had overcome his cheeks, "N-no, let's go inside," he said. Zim complied with little persuasion, 'That's weird, why would Zim just waltz in without checking-,'

The cold barrel of a gun made contact with Dib's neck, "You may be wondering why I am so complacent Dib-monkey, does this answer your question?" he asked. Dib froze moving only his head to nod. He waited for Zim to lower the laser to continue his venture inside.

Zim sat on the couch accompanied by Gir. Dib took the love seat adjacent to the two of them.

"You have questions?" Zim asked stoically.

"Yes," Dib answered. In his mind, he tried to formulate all the ones he wanted to ask and cursed himself for not thinking of any sooner, "Well…I guess to start is why the change? I mean, I understand you're different from us, is it because you're A-sexual? What triggered it? Is that why you were in a cocoon?" he asked.

Zim took each question into his mind and fumbled them around.

"There is no such thing as a natural-born female." He began, Dib crossed his legs and leaned towards his foe, ready to hear what he had to say, when the Irken didn't continued, Dib decided to push him.

"What do you mean?"

"Irkens are a race built for war, what you humans call 'adrenaline' and 'testosterone' are naturally produced at high levels in the Irken body. Resulting in, as you are well aware males."

"But you just said you aren't A-sexual, females have to exist, fr-,"

"SILENCE! I will no longer suffer another one of your out busts, obey Zim-!"

"Just shut up and continue."

"Ahem. Females are dictated by the Irken species need to procreate, when it is sensed that our population has decreased, certain Irken bodies trigger a chemical suppressant which causes some of the males to become female- that is until the population stabilizes, then they return to their male forms. This is the biological gist of it, nowadays we have machines to create new Irkens."

"But what about Tak? That girl Irken-,"

"Irkens do have a choice at around 7 years of age to change permanently, this however is rare and can only occur when a long period of stabilization has been maintained, much longer than 1,000 years or so, Tak probably made the decision then."

"7 years old, isn't that a bit young?"

"Do not underestimate the Irken intellect, Dib-monkey."

"I managed to give YOU too much credit."

"Anyway, my body has somehow come to realize that the population is down, I being the only superior being here, my kind is too far away for it to realize the change is unnecessary, I will remain a full female until I am bred-,"

"WHAT? YOU MEAN MY ENEMY IS A GIRL NOW!"

"SILENCE! I am not a female yet, that it why I unwillingly require your assistance."

"Why not just call your stupid army or get close enough to them so your body will reverse the transformation and why my help? What about your own lab?"

"I cannot find their whereabouts and my body composition has changed too much. In other words, my lab will no longer recognize me as the all powerful Zim,"

"Didn't something like that happen befo-,"

"Bologna DNA,"

"Ah, now I remember,"

"That still makes no sense. So you turn into a girl, there are still no males in this vicinity of the galaxy that you can mate with. This change is redundant!"

Zim grew silent and began to pace the floor, he had another secret for Dib, but wasn't too sure he wanted to share it with him. In the end Dib's assistance was required, secrets were not an option. If worse came to worse he could kill him anyway.

He decided to answer with a question, "On this planet, if none but one human survived, what would happen?"

Dib took the question and held it for a moment, did he really want to let Zim know this kind of thing? Zim just stared at him, waiting.

"He or she would grow old and die, leaving our race to the history pages."

"This is not so with our species; my body is at this point in time, capable of making my DNA compatible with anyone I breed with. Even if it is a half-irken, it will still be Irken and our race would continue."

Dib hated to admit it, but he was impressed with the superioirity of Irken genetics. To be able to pass your genes onto something that by human standards would be wholly incompatible, what a remarkable gift.

"All right Zim, say I buy into all this. Why should I help you? Ever since you arrived on this planet you've been obsessed with killing me and taking over Earth."

"Because I've deemed you a worthy adversary. Far more inferior to the all powerful Zim, of course but a worthy adversary nonetheless."

Dib smirked, "That doesn't really put me in a charitable mood."

Zim's eyes drooped, his lower lip jutted out in a manner than even Dib could not deny was cute, "Because I'm asking you to, because I have no one else to turn to and because you're the only one I would trust to assist me."

Dib cringed at the sudden desire to help Zim, 'I can't be swayed by nice words. Zim'll just use me to change back and probably kill me afterwards.' Zim was never one to be trusted, this new appearance made no difference. Dib's answer hung in the air, should he help Zim?


	6. Chapter 6

Here it is, chapter 6!

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**CHAPTER 6: The Beginning**

'Something wasn't right. Zim hasn't called us for two weeks. Oh well!' Thoughts of the annoying soldier were cast aside as a servant irken handed Tallest Purple a smoothie and started to fan him. As he lazed about on a floating lawn chair, he idly began to wonder what horribly delicious fate befell the poor excuse for an Irken.

'Mauled by a pack of snorvits? No those don't exist on their planet…Perhaps the inhabitants discovered his real identity and executed him Plarvax-style?' "Ooh!" Purple mused, the thought of the humans decapitating Zim and feeding his head to a 4 headed skyx filled the god-like alien with all kinds of giddy feelings.

A loud crash from the main deck ripped Purple out of his reverie. The Irken leader leaned over the balcony of the main ship and shook his fist, "What's all that noise?" he bellowed. Three Irkens swiveled around from their posts and bowed, "Our sincere apologies, my lord, the asteroid's surface is less dense than we thought. Pieces are breaking off and hitting the ship."

Purple smirked, remembering why they were out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently a large meteor drifted into the northern quadrant of their territory. It was rarely a concern, but the metals in the meteor were messing with every form of communication they have, even the ones passed from one irkens antennae to another. It was a bother from the start and the fact that the ship was being pelted with chunks made Purple's mood no lighter.

"Oh well, at least this is happening during Red's naptime." He smiled and leaned back.

The beam successfully encompassed the asteroid's circumference, turning the metal and rock a vibrant green, "Destruction of asteroid will begin in klor, vix, sku, niztel, jor!" The ship's laser powered up and shot a thin steak of white light into the core of the asteroid. A few seconds of silence followed its penetration before it blasted apart in a violent explosion of dust and light. The ship was jolted by the bands of force created in the explosion's wake, Irkens were tossed everywhere and Purple fell out of his lawn chair.

He rose as soon as the storm calmed, "Damn it all, someone get me a new drink!" he yelled.

But none of the Irkens moved to help him. "Eh?" He grunted, Purple looked around to see his minions standing deathly still. Their antennaes quivering in a wave like motion, stimulated by an unseen force. Through half-lidded eyes they stared of into the abyss, drool pouring out of their drunken grins.

"Did you not here me? I asked for a drink!" He said again, the Irkens just ignored him and began congregating to the open window at the front of the ship.

"What is this feeling?" one of the Irkens asked.

"Such a delicious wave of euphoria…!" Another stated.

Purple gawked at the sight before him, 'Euphoria?' He hadn't heard an Irken describe that term since…

The Tallest gasped, memories of a time long forgotten began to surface from the recesses of his mind, it couldn't be! His hand shook as it made its way to his antennae. Making sure no one was looking, he removed the thin transparent covering that unbeknownst to everyone had secretly protected the sensory organs. One centimeter of uncovered antennae was enough to shake him as a wave of rapture raged throughout his whole body. Purple fell to his knees, with every ounce of strength he could muster Tallest Purple fought the urge to give in to such ecstasy and covered the naked antennae. He turned and zoomed down the hallway to Red's chambers.

'This is…impossible! We killed them all centuries ago!"

* * *

"I said I'd help you, I never said you could live here!" Dib screamed. Upon his agreement to assist the alien with his problem, Zim began to unpack a suitcase that had been stowed in his pack.

"Don't be a fool! When I said I was banned from my lab I meant all aspects of the lab, including my homebase!" Zim yelled back at him.

Against his better judgement he decided to help Zim, but well on his own terms. For one it was something he could hold over Zim's head; that was a sweet victory Dib would relish in later. Two, Dib was no closer to unlocking the key to Zim's anatomy than he was when the alien first got here 5 years ago.

Still, that didn't mean he wanted Zim living with him!

"You, with all your technology have no…portable place that you can live in?" Dib asked.

"Of course I do! But it was left in the lab! The only reason I have clothes is because they're standard in all Irken life packs!" Zim had pulled out a scrap of fabric to show Dib, but it ended up providing yet another problem. The clothes were way too small. Zim's face scrunched in confusion as he held the miniature shirt up, "Gir," he said.

The little robot stopped licking the fishbowl in Dib's living room, "Er?" He grunted.

"Did you replace my clothes with…human doll clothes?" he asked, a well formed vein of frustration began to pulsate on his forehead.

"That's where I left them!" Gir squealed. Zim screamed, launching himself at the incompetent bot slave. Gir hugged Zim's neck missing the attempt on his life. His overzealous show of affection clamped around the irken's throat, calming the alien down and forcing him to give up the short fight. "Dib-human, procure me some human garb!" he barked.

Dib placed his hands on his hips, "I'm not your servant, Zim. You want some clothes ask my sister." He barked.

"There's no way he's getting any of my clothes," Gaz said, surprising both Dib and Zim. Her yoga ruined, she decided to check in on Zim and Dib's latest argument.

"C'mon Gaz-wait, why aren't you shocked?" Dib pleaded.

"I heard the entire thing." She said, eying the Irken's new body, "Just when I thought you couldn't get weirder."

"Well, can you please loan him something to wear?" Dib asked.

"Why must I dawn the female human's clothes?" Zim asked.

Dib wasn't prepared for that question, both by Zim and by himself. Why did he think Zim needed to wear girl's clothes? He was still a boy on the inside, and Zim didn't plan on staying this way for very long, a t-shirt and jeans would have sufficed.

"Er…" he stammered.

"I'm not refusing because I don't want to share, though that's the second reason," Gaz butted in, "Tits like Pam Anderson and an ass like Kim Kardashian! He'll stretch my clothes out."

Dib glared through an impromptu blush at his sister, it was hard enough ignoring Zim's new body without her pointing it out.

Gaz seemed to catch the look and smiled, how long had it been since she exacted revenge on her brother? Well now was a good a time as any. "Y'know what? How about you and I go down to the mall. My dad leaves a credit card in his drawer, we can get you a few things."

"Really? Gaz, you'd do that?" Dib asked.

"It's my duty to my fellow female." She said.

"I'm not a girl!" Zim re-iterated angrily.

"Whatever, let's go!" she said. The teen grabbed her father's card and dragged the alien out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Updated! Yay! Well here you go, Zim and Dib's first step to fixing our favorite Irken's special problem. We start to see a new relationship budding, but will it come to fruition?**

**

* * *

**

**Chaper 7**

"Zim has returned!"

Dib used Zim's absence and spent the two hours he and Gaz were gone hiding any vital information in his lab. He was just about done when Zim came back, "You ready to-aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

While less revealing than his previous outfit, Zim's new attire was no less distracting.

The Irken kept his knee high boots and black gloves from before, but now low rise, black jeans hugged his hips. A red and black corset contrasted beautifully against his green breasts and a new wig of long, black curls complete with a red and black butterfly hairclip topped off the anything-but-male ensemble.

"I thought you were just going to get a t-shirt and jeans!" Dib screamed.

_Elsewhere in the Membrane residence, an evil sister was laughing her ass off._

"Male clothes will not make me look male. Your sister suggested I take on a new persona for the time being, it would be easier to explain to the school that I exchanged classes with the all powerful Zim until we got this disaster straightened out."

Dib wanted to argue the point, but didn't have much to go on. It was already going to be a pain explaining why exactly Zim was gone for two weeks. At least this way they could blame the school's congested bureaucracy and state that this transfer was filed for 2 months ago.

Dib decided not to make a big stink about Zim's new attire and went a different route, "Well, if you're going to go back to school you better read up on all the chapters you missed."

The Irken soldier just laughed, "Slow and pitiful humans, Zim's ridiculously intelligent brain can be caught up and more by tomorrow. How many chapters could you possibly have read in three days?"

"Three days?" Dib asked, cocking an eyebrow at him, "Zim, you've been missing for two weeks!"

That news seemed to slap the Irken off his high horse a little, "Lies!" he screamed, "Irken changes take no more than three days, four at the most!"

Dib rolled his eyes, then reached over and grabbed the holographic calendar from his wall, "Is it safe to say the last day you remember was June 29th, 2010?" he asked, remembering the date on the video diary.

"This is correct," Zim answered.

"Then today would be July 2ndor 3rd, right?" Dib asked.

"Make your point known, human!" Zim demanded. Dib flipped he calendar over; sure enough the date highlighted was July 13th, 2019. Zim stared at the numbers in disbelief; a mistake has been made, this was unnatural!

Dib decided he opened up the conversation portal enough and that the best thing to do at this point was get some more answers. Pretending to stretch, he reached back and pressed the 'record' button on his hidden audio tape, "O.k. Zim, tell me about the last day before you blacked out."

Zim froze for a moment, "Eh? Why do you need to know that?" he asked.

"I need to gather as much information on your biology if I have any chance of creating a solution." Dib explained.

"Ha! You just want to learn all there is about my in-cred-ible anatomy. I will give you no answers! None!" Zim screamed.

"You don't have much of a choice here, Zim," Dib said, ignoring the alien's accusations (he was right after all) "I can't help you if I have nothing to go on. So, you either tell me or get out."

"Rrrr, fine!" Zim shifted uncomfortably as the memories came flooding back, his arms folded across his stomach. He took a seat in the computer chair opposite Dib, "There was…pain…oh, so much pain."

"Where was there pain, Zim?" Dib asked in an unnaturally soft voice, he gave himself a weird look, 'What was that all about?' he wondered.

"In here," Zim answered pointing to his lower abdomen, "And er…here," the Irken cupped his breasts. Causing Dib to blush.

"Oh, I uh, I see. That's probably just the skin on your chest stretching and um, o.k. so maybe the pain was your insides changing."

"Changing? Explaiiiin to Ziiim!"

"I can't say definitively, but the change is for breeding purposes right? What you were probably feeling was your insides changing from male to female. Y'know making your male organs capable of hosting life."

"Zim has already thought of this and Zim does not thing it is so," Zim said.

"Why?"

"The er….private sector of my body remains unchanged."

"Oh…" Dib said, looking down at the alien's crotch. So that was why Zim said he wasn't female yet. Dib tried to remember if he'd seen that far when Zim first woke up, but all the teenaged boy could remember was those large, emerald breasts.

"Dub-human, you really might want to run a diagnostic check on that camo-guage," Zim said in a cross manner.

"Don't worry about my camo-guage!" Dib yelled, he shook his head, "O.k. so you still have a penis."

"Penis, what is this…penis?" Zim asked in a tone of disgust.

"Your male organs," Dib re-iterated, stifling a laugh at the way Zim said 'penis'.

"You mean that dangly thing you humans draw in the anatomy pages? Disgusting! Irken's do not have that!"

"Then what do you have?" Dib asked.

"We have a-,"

"Zim! Dib! Time for bed!" Gaz barked from the top of the stairs. Dib scowled at his sister's crappy timing, "We'll be up in a minute!" he called.

"No minute! NOW! It's a school night!" She screamed.

"Since when do you care when I go to bed?" Dib asked.

"Since Dad called and threatened to take away my Game Slave 6! You **don't** want to see me without it, Dib!" she warned.

Dib cringed, so close and yet so far. Sighing he turned to his nemesis, "We got a lot to do tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"You have procured a sleep chamber worthy of Zim?" The Irken asked.

Dib started up the stairs, "Yeah, it's called the couch."

* * *

_He was walking down a hallway, urged forward by some unseen force. 'Where am I?' Dib wondered. From the darkness of the empty rooms on either sides of the corridor came two small Irkens, servants he concluded by the way they were dressed. They bowed at Dib's feet, "You have arrived." One said, "She is waiting for you." _

"_Waiting? Who is waiting?" Dib asked. The Irkens said nothing, but began to run around the teen, tearing off his clothes and replacing them with some soft kind of fabric. "Whoa, hey, what they hell!" He protested, feeling somewhat violated. His objections however seemed to fall on deaf ears. When they finished Dib was wearing clothes similar to that of Yul Brenner in 'The King and I'._

"_What the hell is going on?" he shouted, but the Irkens were suddenly gone._

"_Dib," a voice called. Dib looked to the end of the corridor at a tall doorway with curtains for a door. A soft light was emanating from within, pleading in a way for the human to go inside. 'That voice…where have I heard that voice before?' Even in dreams Dib maintained a logical mind, what was waiting for him at the end of that corridor? He was obviously in Irken territory, so was it a trap? With no other option, Dib made his way to and into the room._

_Space and time jumped from there. Dib was now in a bed, he couldn't see too well, but he certainly could feel. Warm, velvet fingers caressed his cheeks, tracing the shaved sides of his head before disappearing into the hair on his crown. He shuddered with pleasure as lips started a trail of kisses along the cut of his jaw and down his neck before parting and the sensation of a tongue teasing the dip of his clavicle filled him._

_Dib fought to keep his sanity, a toxic wave of euphoria had seemed to over take him, dragging him deeper and deeper into its depths with each kiss. Driving him to possess the person beneath him in the most carnal of ways, but who was it? Who was the person driving him mad with every touch? It was a woman, the heat pressed against his right leg confirmed as much, but try as he might, the face would not surface. Oh, did he even care at this point? Whomever it was had him drunk with lust._

_No! He needed to know, who was it? What Irken female did he know?_

_Tak? Or perhaps…_

* * *

Dib finally woke up and found himself, and Zim for that matter in a rather precarious position.

Dib was still in his bed, still in his pajamas, and still underneath the covers. The only thing that seemed to be out of place were his hands, which were now tightly gripped to either side of Zim's supple hips. Zim was more out of place than he was; the alien somehow managed to walk to his room and was now straddling the human teenager. Dib started to scream, but stopped when he noticed no immediate danger. Zim, though straddling him seemed as unaware of the situation as he was; his head lolled from side to side and was accompanied by a loud snore.

'He's sleepwalking; the idiot sleepwalked in to my room!' Dib realized. Zim giggled sleepily and continued what Dib had hoped wasn't what it looked like. The Irken rolled his stomach, grinding his crotch against Dib's.

"Whoah!" Dib yelled, pushing Zim off of him. He scrambled out of his bed and raised his arms up for a fight.

The sudden jolt however did nothing to stir Zim from his lustful sleep. Zim just snorted and turned to his side.

"Zim wake up!" Dib ordered loudly, "Zim!"

Still the alien slept. Gir, who was woken by his master's sudden absence came walking into the room. He waved a sleepy hand at Dib before jumping onto the bed and curling up next to Zim.

Dib watched as the alien kicked at something, causing the oversized t-shirt he was wearing to ride up and expose frilly, black, thong-like underwear. A thousand and one ideas came to Dib, some pertaining to checking the alien's gender, others pertaining to more intimate activities. Both however were sluggishly pushed aside as the teen grabbed the hem of the t-shirt and pulled it down, then covered the alien with his blanket.

'We have to get you back to normal, I don't know how much more I can take.'


	8. Chapter 8

**Here it is! The newest chapter in The Days of Our Queen! I are soooo happeh! Actually I came across a startling fact the otherday...peoples don't like a female Zim. O.o Well not all of them, but a good portion of ZADR fans prefer a male/male relationship... To be honest, my intent had been to keep Zim male, but the story wouldn't come to fruition the way I wanted it so Zim is a chick, but it's for a REALLY good reason! I promise!**

**Anywhoo, sorry if the beginning reads a bit wierd, it made sense in my head, but on paper was a little iffy, I may change it at a later date, but for now bear with me!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8: TEARS**

The Massive was deathly silent, and dark to boot. It was night in their quadrant of space and all but the night guards were floating unconsciously in their sleeping tubes.

Tallest Purple slipped out of the shadows of the main deck and looked around. With all the Irkens that occupied the area it was easy to forget just how big the control room really was, he scrambled across the floor, searching the infinite amount of tiles for the one that up until the previous day had remained untouched.

'You couldn't wait for me?' he wondered, annoyed at his counterpart Red. No sooner did Purple tell his co-ruler about the incident yesterday did the red commander plunge him into a sea of work. "_Erase the memories of the Irkens involved with the meteor disaster, build a force field around the Massive to keep the waves from sending everyone over the edge again, clear everyone who has any business on the main deck for the next week, AND make me a sandwich!"_ he mimicked Red with a dumbed down voice.

The massive tile that made the right eye of the Irken insignia ended up being the key '1.000 years really screws the memory up,' Purple mused, swearing up and down it was the jaw tile. A cold rush of air and smoke pierced out of the circumference of the tile, with a loud **KOOSH** it dropped three inches and slid into the hole of the adjacent tile.

A platform a few inches smaller than the opening sputtered to life. Purple stepped on to it and waited as the archaic machinery closed the tile over his head and took him to a secret chamber in the ship, "Glad you took the time to clear the cobwebs." Purple muttered as the dust aggravated his allergies.

The tube dropped into a large room filled with ancient monitors, pre-holograms. Time, or rather Zim had been unkind to the room, granted it was old, but the damaged screens and scattered cords looked recent, 'Probably when Zim took over the ship with a remote control' Purple figured. In the center was a high-backed throne which was currently occupied by Red. He sat to the side of the chair, his hand cradling his pensive head, "We got more reports," he said, not turning to look at Purple, "Irkens as far as the Thylythe quadrant are sending in reports of a strange euphoria."

Purple's jaw dropped, "T-that far?" he asked. Even the original, as powerful as that one had been, could never reign even half as far.

"Are the memories of the older ones returning?" Purple asked, Red stared at the floor to the side of the chair, rubbing his temple, "Nothing as of yet, but it's only a matter of time. How, how could we miss one?" he asked, it was obvious the news still perturbed him.

"What's our next move?" Purple, who had never been much of a leader asked. After a moment of silence, Red sat up straight, "Call everyone within that perimeter to congregate at Conventia, tell them they've won something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know! Get creative!" Red yelled, "We'll take care of them by adding the rock to their packs; that should at least buy us some time. Have you pinpointed the coordinates of the signal?" he asked, Purple nodded, "C125.04554 by R52.10258 is where it originated." Red turned to his co-ruler, "Where exactly is that? I don't remember having any planets of interest in that area."

"I'm not sure, it'll take some time to de-code," Purple said.

"I'm going to be accessing the files down here, in the meantime work on those coordinates and keep everyone out!" Red ordered.

Purple smirked at Red's bossy attitude, but decided to say nothing, turned and started back towards the deck. "Hey," Red called, the purple king turned back to his comrade, Red was looking straight into his eyes, "What did it feel like?"

"Like we have a serious problem on our hands," was all he said.

* * *

The sharp gleam of the early morning sun pierced through the blinds and woke Zim from his slumber. Not so content with the idea of waking up, the Irken scowled at the mark of a new day and turned away from it; snuggling deep into the warm pillow. As his green head burrowed into the down and cloth, it disturbed an unfamiliar scent, different from the ones he had to adjust to when Dib confined him to the horribly uncomfortable couch. It was not unpleasant- quite the opposite, an intoxicating bouquet of musty smells. Zim's antennae grazed the pillow, cologne of some sort.

'I know that cologne, it is the stink of Dib!' Zim realized. His magenta eye cracked open and was shocked to see not the back of the couch, but a dark brown wall with paranormal posters on it. Zim shot up, his eyes dancing around wildly, how did he end up in Dib's room?

"I am in the monkey-Dib's sleep chamber, ew!" he yelled thrusting the covers from his body. What was that fool thinking, touching Zim, cradling him as he took the unconscious alien to his room. The alien rose and stormed down the hallway. Unacceptable!

Dib's night had not been a peaceful one. He kept waking as regular intervals, fearful that Zim would either try to murder or screw him in his sleep. He decided after this point to install a security system that was trained on Zim's DNA on the doors, windows, and air duct system, only then would he sleep to the next morning.

And speaking of mornings, this one was not a pleasant one. The sensation of being watched robbed any sense of security needed to fall asleep from the teenaged boy. Shifting to where he was now facing the ceiling, Dib opened his eyes and was met with an unnerving sight.

His nemesis was hovering over the couch and staring straight at him.

Dib yelped and fell off the couch with a sickening thud. Indifferent to any pain Dib found himself in. Zim stuck out his chest and pointed at the teen, "Yes! Cower in fear of Zim!"

"I wasn't scared; I just forgot you were staying here." He spat, pressing his hands against his back in an attempt to realign his aching spine. 'I never knew how much our couch sucked,' he thought with deep sarcasm.

Gir came traipsing in to the room, throwing his little puppy arms around Dib's leg as soon as he made eye contact, "Thank you for giving my master your bed, it was awl naice and cumfy and cowzy and naice and cumfy and cowzy and nai-."

"You're welcome, Gir," Dib cut in, stopping what was probably going to be a 3 hour loop of gratitude.

"I will not give thanks," Zim piped up, waving in Dib's direction, "It is obvious you feared my wrath. I am just sad my unconscious body had to suffer the sensation of you picking me up with your…filthy ape claws."

The events of last night came flooding back, the dream and the view that he endured upon waking up, "I didn't give you my bed, you came into my room last night!" he yelled.

Zim was appalled, "You're lying!" he screeched.

"The hell I am! You snuck in while I was asleep and were all-," he dropped the rest of the sentence; thoughts came to his mind, setting the gigantic gears turning.

"Were all what, Monkey boy?" Zim asked, wondering what putrid lie the earthling had stewing in his head orifice.

Dib scowled as his 'camo-guage' went on the fritz as Zim had put it. He wanted to replay their little night encounter as sparingly as he possibly had to. He also remembered that Zim was sleep walking and wouldn't remember anyway.

"Nevermind," he said, forfeiting a chance to put Zim in his place.

"Nonetheless human, I need to clean myself of your stench. Where is your disinfecting chamber?" he asked, starting for the bathroom.

Dib reached out and grabbed Zim's arm, "Oh no you don't, we have to start fixing your problem!"

It was Zim's turn to scowl, fighting with Dib had at least made him forget his little predicament and it was once again staring him in the face. Everything was a mess, he was baseless, clueless about what exactly was wrong with him, and worst of all in the hands of his arch nemesis.

He was also worried, there were things about his new anatomy that made sense, but many other things that didn't. Why did it take so long for him to change, not just from male to female, but over the years? He'd been on Earth for 6 years now, thousands of light-years away from his kind, why hadn't he changed sooner? And why was the place between his legs unchanged? He hadn't told Dib, but the change was supposed to be complete by now. So many questions and Dib was his only means of answers.

Zim was so into his thoughts; he hadn't realized he and Dib were staring at each other or that Dib's hand was still softly curved around his arm. He jerked his shoulder forward, slipping out of Dib's grip, "Don't touch me, human!" he spat. The taller teen seemed to snap out of something as well and turned away, "S-sorry," he muttered and sat on the couch. While he was turned, Zim rubbed the warm spot where Dib's hand had been, curiously dissecting the new feeling in the pit of his squeedily spooch.

"So, you said certain parts of your body haven't changed right?" Dib asked. Zim took a seat as well and nodded, "That means we still have a chance to change you back, that's good news," he re-stated. "But I'm curious, you said you don't have a penis, just what exactly does a male Irken have?"

Gaz stormed into the room, interrupting them for the second time, "Hey! You two aren't dressed?" she barked. Dib glared at his sister, from the interruption AND the new wardrobe she helped Zim buy, "We have an hour!" Dib said.

"Not today, Dad said to take the bus and it'll be here in 20 minutes! Get going!" she yelled and grabbed Zim's arm. The Irken felt a little annoyed, something about where she was grabbing him ticked the alien off. He shook the emotion away, if anything Gaz was assisting in the removal of the Dib-stinks handprint.

As Gaz helped him into what the female human's call a bra, his mind began to turn. And by the time they were all seated in the bus, Zim was armed with a rather dangerous question.

Zim took the seat in the back, Dib, to his dismay sat next to him. Gaz took the seat directly in front of them and, with her sisterly duties completed, abandoned them for her GameSlave.

Dib had created a file on his laptop that was going to be dedicated to Zim's predicament and was getting some basic questions and observations in when Zim asked, "I am curious Dib," he said, staring out the window, a few kids he recognized were walking to the bus stop, a part of him idly thought of how they were going to react to his new look.

"Hm?" Dib grunted, still staring at the screen.

"Why were you at the base of Zim?"

Dib tensed, his fingers froze just above the letters of the unfinished sentence, "I, er, thought you were up to something evil," he stammered, and quickly resumed typing. It was the truth, so why was he so nervous?

"I saw that my personal journal had been accessed, you would have known or at least thought I died. Why did you stay?"

"It's not rocket science, you wouldn't have trusted Gir with a bomb of that caliber. I heard a strange noise and stumbled upon you just as you woke up," he explained, leaving out the fact that he was actually the one who ruptured the cocoon. Zim was silent for a moment, then yawned and turned away from Dib, "I see, wake me up when we arrive at skool," he said. Dib breathed a sigh of relief, his mind already aware of the different places that conversation could have gone.

Unbeknownst to him, Zim had a secret. His mind played back the moment just before his base kicked him out, how he stumbled upon his journal, how a new recording has been stored. In the process of slamming the journal against the floor, Dib had triggered the record button. A few more smashes would have rendered the journal unreadable, but Zim saw everything, the tears of anguish Dib had shed for his alien rival. At first the only thing that registered were the words "You were mine to destroy!" and filled the alien with boundless anger, but why the tears? Humans shed tears when they were sad, right? Why would Zim's passing make Dib sad? He saw that Dib had asked himself that same question, but the look of sorrow on the cracked and crackling screen spoke volumes for the human and left the alien somewhat confused.

The question he really wanted to ask played over and over in his mind.

'You shed tears for me, why?'

* * *

**Well here it is, the beginning of the love in their love/hate relationship. I wanted it to be sweet, but not fluffy, I detest cutesy fics XD. I also wanted to give a little insight in Zim's part, how he feels about the whole situation and a secret to boot! Where is this all going? And what up with the Tallest, man? Something's afoot in the IZ universe and I intend to find out what!**

**R&R please**


End file.
